After taking a few more hours to deliberate, Vernon city council had little new to say to the public about the cultural complex committee'sfinal report.Council had been scheduled to discuss the report at the committee of the whole meeting but delayed discussion until after an in camera session later yesterday morning. When council finally discussed the issue at the regular council meeting, Coun. Jack Gilroy read a statement thanking them for their effort but proposing that the complex committee be disbanded."When we do move forward with the Cultural Complex Zone we will need their input," Gilroy said.
Sigrid-Ann Thors, chair of the now disbanded cultural complex committee said she was a bit puzzled by council's discussion. She said outside council chambers that she doesn't know what council has planned for the facility's future."They have every right to do that; we have fulfilled our mandate," she said. "I can't say it's a positive move - it's just a move."Thors said the she and the other committee members are willing to continueto give what help they can. She said they still believe in the project but don't know what council plans to do next."It will be interesting to see which direction they will go," she said. "Idon't get a sense of what their direction is - it's very vague."Coun. Barry Beardsell said council needs to inform the public about its intentions for the Coldstream Hotel block. Beardsell appeared to be surprised at the suggestion of a cultural zone."Cultural zone, what cultural zone?" he said. "Is there nothing more . . . we're going to say about cultural activity in the community?"Gilroy clarified that he was referring to a zone around the city hall complex where there would be cultural buildings, pathways and green spaces"Right now this cultural complex at this $24 to $39 million dollar cost is not looking very good for taxpayers," he said.Cochrane said that council is still looking at all of the possibilities surrounding the use of the property slated to house the library, gallery and museum. He said that high-rises and commercial uses are still an option."We're looking very hard at what we can do with the accumulated properties," he said. "But we're going in a direction to take advantage of options with public private partnerships. "Beardsell reiterated the need to have a public discussion, but the request was not taken up by the rest of council."I think the public, with all the time and money invested (in the complex report) needs to hear a bit of discussion about it," he said.Council voted unanimously to disband the committee but did not make any firm plans to continue discussion of the cultural complex.
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